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84-558: Linguére was the capital of the Jolof Empire and its successor, the Kingdom of Jolof . The name Lingeer was also used as a title for Serer and Wolof queens and royal princesses. The town lies on the N3 road connecting it to Dakar and Touba to the west and Ouro Sogui and Mauretania to the east. The town was formally the terminus of a branch railway. The train station is now in ruins and

168-582: A Portuguese commander to put the prince back on the throne of Jolof. The objective was to put him on the throne and a fort at the mouth of the Senegal River. Neither goal was achieved. A dispute between the commander and the prince resulted in the former accusing the bumi of treachery and killing him. In the early 16th century, the Jolof Empire was still very powerful, and capable of fielding 100,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. But succession disputes were not

252-472: A few kilometres downstream of Pondor . The long strip of land between the two branches is called the Île á Morfil . In 1972 Mali, Mauritania and Senegal founded the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) to manage the river basin. Guinea joined in 2005. At the present time, only very limited use is made of the river for the transport of goods and passengers. The OMVS have looked at

336-464: A follow-up mission in 1435, under Gil Eanes and Afonso Gonçalves Baldaia . Going down the coast, they turned around the al-Dakhla peninsula in the Western Sahara and emerged into an inlet, which they excitedly believed to be the mouth of the Senegal River. The name they mistakenly bestowed upon the inlet - "Rio do Ouro" - is a name it would remain stuck with down to the 20th century. Realizing

420-513: A matrilineal one (uncle-nephew), as Biram Eler and Tase Daagulen were both members of the Jonai matrilineage. Between roughly 1455 and 1489, five buurba s would claim the throne, sowing chaos and civil war. In the 1480s, Jelen , the buumi or prince, was ruling the empire in the name of his brother Birayma Kuran Kan , known in Portuguese sources as Bur Birao. Tempted by the Portuguese trade, he moved

504-565: A mean flow of 680 m /s ( 24 000  cu ft/s), and an annual discharge of 21.5 km (5.2 cu mi). Important tributaries are the Falémé River , Karakoro River , and the Gorgol River . Downstream of Kaédi the river divides into two branches. The left branch called the Doué runs parallel to the main river to the north. After 200 km (120 mi) the two branches rejoin

588-563: A misplaced depiction of Ghana - long defunct, but, on the other hand, contemporaneous with the depicted Abu Bakr). Nearby sits its Arab-looking king (" Rex Organa ") holding a scimitar. The River of Gold is sourced at a circular island, what seem like the Mountains of the Moon (albeit unlabeled here). From this same source also flows north the White Nile towards Egypt, which forms the frontier between

672-461: A pair of ships (nothing more is heard of them). In 1346, the Majorcan sailor, Jaume Ferrer set out on a galley with the explicit objective of finding the "River of Gold" ( Riu de l'Or ), where he heard that most people along its shores were engaged in the collection of gold and that the river was wide and deep enough for the largest ships. Nothing more is heard of him either. In 1402, after establishing

756-493: A population of 13,610. Daouda SOW(1933-2009), Former Deputy, Former Minister, Psychiatrist. Djibo Leyti KA (1948-2017), Former Minister, Politician. Aly Ngouille Ndiaye, City's Mayor, Minister Of Industries And Mines Of The Current Government. Habib SY, Politician And Former Minister This Senegal location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Jolof Empire The Jolof Empire ( Arabic : امبراطورية جولوف ), also known as Great Jolof , or

840-558: A single ecoregion known as the Senegal-Gambia Catchments . Although the species richness is moderately high, only three species of frogs and one fish are endemic to this ecoregion. The existence of the Senegal River was known to the early Mediterranean civilizations. It or some other river was called Bambotus by Pliny the Elder (possibly from Phoenician " behemoth " for hippopotamus ) and Nias by Claudius Ptolemy . It

924-562: A single river flowing from east to west, which they called the "Western Nile". (In fact, some of the headwaters of the Senegal River are near the Niger River in Mali and Guinea.) It was believed to be either a western branch of the Egyptian Nile River or drawn from the same source (variously conjectured to some great internal lakes of the Mountains of the Moon , or Ptolemy 's Gir (Γειρ) or

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1008-467: A slave. This match so enfuriated Ndiaye that he jumped into the Senegal River and began an aquatic life. He made his way downstream to Waalo . At this time, the area was divided into villages ruled by separate Lamanes , some of whom were engaged in a dispute over a wood near a prominent lake (in some versions, it is a dispute over a catch of fish). This almost led to bloodshed, but it was stopped by

1092-427: A terrifying obstacle, the 'cape of no return' to European sailors, emerged around the same time (possibly encouraged by Trans-Saharan traders who did not want to see their land route sidestepped by sea). The river is frequently depicted with a great river island midway, the "Island of Gold", first mentioned by al-Masudi, and famously called " Wangara " by al-Idrisi and " Palolus " in the 1367 Pizzigani brothers chart. It

1176-424: A very autocratic government where personal armies and wealth often superseded constitutional values. The Jolof Empire included five coastal kingdoms from north to south: Waalo , Kayor , Baol , Sine and Saloum . All of these states were tributary to the land-locked state of Jolof. Each was governed by a ruler were chosen by their respective nobles. Each had practical autonomy but was expected to cooperate with

1260-510: A woodsman's hut. But he ran into their father, who proceeded to chase the Portuguese back to their launch and gave them such a beating that the explorers gave up on going any further, and turned back to the waiting caravels. Sometime between 1448 and 1455, the Portuguese captain Lourenço Dias opened regular trade contact on the Senegal River, with the Wolof statelets of Waalo (near the mouth of

1344-470: Is a 1086-kilometre-long (675 mi) river in West Africa ; much of its length marks part of the border between Senegal and Mauritania . It has a drainage basin of 270 000  km ( 100 000  sq mi), a mean flow of 680 m /s (24,000 cu ft/s), and an annual discharge of 21.5 km (5.2 cu mi). Important tributaries are the Falémé River , Karakoro River , and

1428-476: Is also a 'Gare Routiere', a public transit hub connecting the town to other cities in the east: Louga , Dahra , Touba , and Dakar . The village of Nguith nearby is a traditional Wolof village (4 km to the west), with a deep-bore well, schools, health post, and functioning village government. The village is run by two families, the Coundouls, and Talls. In 2007, according to official estimates, Linguère had

1512-673: Is closely associated with that of the Gambia River basin, and the two are usually combined under a single ecoregion known as the Senegal-Gambia Catchments . Only three species of frogs and one fish are endemic to this ecoregion. The river has two large dams along its course, the Manantali Dam in Mali and the Maka-Diama Dam downstream on the Mauritania-Senegal border. In between is

1596-621: Is conjectured that this riverine "island" is in fact just the Bambuk -Buré goldfield district, which is practically surrounded on all sides by rivers - the Senegal river to the north, the Falémé River to the west, the Bakhoy to the east and the Niger and Tinkisso to the south. The 1413 portolan chart of Mecia de Viladestes gives perhaps the most detailed depiction of the early state of European knowledge about

1680-502: Is evident the Senegal river morphs east, unbroken, into the Niger River - the cities of " tenbuch " ( Timbuktu ), " geugeu " ( Gao ) and " mayna " ( Niamey ? or a misplaced Niani ?) are denoted along the same single river. South of them (barely visible) are what seem like the towns of Kukiya (on the eastern shore of the Island of Gold), and east of that, probably Sokoto (called "Zogde" in

1764-521: The Bour on important matters, and send regular tribute to Jolof. This did not always happen, however, and wars between the constituent kingdoms were common; provinces could gain or lose degrees of independence, or move from one king's control to another. Senegal River Senegal River at Dagana, Senegal The Senegal River ( Wolof : Dexug Senegaal , Arabic : نهر السنغال , romanized :  Nahr as-Siniġāl , French : Fleuve Sénégal )

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1848-767: The Félou Hydroelectric Plant , built in 1927, but replaced in 2014. The construction of the Gouina Hydroelectric Plant upstream of Felou at Gouina Falls began in 2013. The Senegal's headwaters are the Semefé (Bakoye) and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea ; they form a small part of the Guinea–Mali border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali. From there, the Senegal river flows west and then north through Talari Gorges near Galougo and over

1932-520: The Gambia River . In the 1459 mappa mundi of Fra Mauro , drawn a half-century later, after the Portuguese had already visited the Senegal (albeit still trying to respect Classical sources), shows two parallel rivers running east to west, both of them sourced from the same great internal lake (which, Fra Mauro asserts, is also the same source as the Egyptian Nile). Mauro names the two parallel rivers differently,calling one " flumen Mas ("Mas River"),

2016-459: The Gorgol River . The river divides into two branches once it passes Kaédi The left branch, called the Doué , runs parallel to the main river to the north. After 200 km (120 mi) the two branches rejoin a few kilometers downstream of Podor . In 1972 Mali , Mauritania and Senegal founded the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) to manage the river basin. Guinea joined in 2005. As of 2012 , only very limited use

2100-730: The Gouina Falls , then flows more gently past Kayes , where it receives the Kolimbiné . After flowing together with the Karakoro , it prolongs the former's course along the Mali–Mauritania border for some tens of kilometers till Bakel where it flows together with the Falémé River , which also has its source in Guinea, subsequently runs along a small part of the Guinea-Mali frontier to then trace most of

2184-416: The Senegal River and the Gambia River voluntarily submit to this man, which they did. Attempting to date Ndiadiane Ndiaye and the establishment of the Jolof Empire, John Donnelly Fage suggests, "the rise of the empire was associated with the growth of Wolof power at the expense of the ancient Sudanese state of Takrur, and that this was essentially a fourteenth-century development." Ogot proposes that

2268-566: The Wolof Empire , was a Wolof state that ruled parts of West Africa situated in modern-day Senegal , Mali , Gambia and Mauritania from around the 12th century to 1549. Following the 1549 battle of Danki , its vassal states were fully or de facto independent; in this period it is known as the Jolof Kingdom . Wolof oral traditions relate that the Wolof were the earliest inhabitants of

2352-584: The Zenedec , the 'Gelofes' ( Wolofs ) call it Dengueh , the 'Tucorones' ( Fula Toucouleur ) called it Mayo , the 'Çaragoles' ( Soninke Sarakole of Ngalam ) called it Colle and further along (again, Marmol assuming Senegal was connected to the Niger), the people of Bagamo' ( Bambara of Bamako ?) called it Zimbala (Jimbala?) and the people of Timbuktu called it the Yça . The 16th-century chronicler João de Barros asserts

2436-541: The "Land of the Blacks" ( Terra dos Negros ), and that the "Nile" was surely nearby. Shortly after (possibly still within that same year) another captain, Dinis Dias (sometimes given as Dinis Fernandes) was the first known European since antiquity to finally reach the mouth of the Senegal River. However, Dias did not sail upriver, but instead kept sailing down the Grande Côte to the bay of Dakar . The very next year, in 1446,

2520-505: The "River of Gold" found its way into European maps in the 14th century. In the Hereford Mappa Mundi (c. 1300), there is a river labelled "Nilus Fluvius" drawn parallel to the coast of Africa, albeit without communication with Atlantic (it ends in a lake). It depicts some giant ants digging up gold dust from its sands, with the note " Hic grandes formice auream serican [or servant] arenas " ("Here great ants guard gold sands"). In

2604-512: The "River of Gold" reached the ears of Sub-Alpine European merchants that frequented the ports of Morocco and the lure proved irresistible. Arab historians report at least three separate Arab maritime expeditions - the last one organized by a group of eight mughrarin ("wanderers") of Lisbon (before 1147) - that tried to sail down the Atlantic coast, possibly in an effort find the mouth of the Senegal. Drawing from Classical legend and Arab sources,

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2688-645: The 1450s, then extended extended his authority over Takrur . Eler moved the capital from Njiayeen Sabur to Thieung. He was also likely responsible for subduing the Mandinka states on the northern bank of the Gambia, including Niumi , Badibu, Nyani , and Wuli , as the Mali Empire declined. Jolof would also expand its control over the gold trade, conquering Gajaaga and subsequently Bambuk , although Jean Boulègue argues of such conquest being very unlikely. Control over

2772-527: The 14th century as an alternative name of the Senegal River. It is almost certain that the Genoese "Vedamel" are corruptions from the Arabic, either Wad al-mal ("River of Treasure", i.e. Gold) or, alternatively, Wad al-Melli ("River of Mali") or even, by transcription error, Wad al-Nill ("River of Nile"). Other etymological theories for "Senegal" abound. A popular one, first proposed by Fr. David Boilat (1853),

2856-491: The Biblical Gihon stream). Arab geographers Abd al-Hassan Ali ibn Omar (1230), Ibn Said al-Maghribi (1274) and Abulfeda (1331), label the Senegal as the "Nile of Ghana " (Nil Gana or Nili Ganah). As the Senegal River reached into the heart of the gold-producing Ghana Empire and later the Mali Empire , Trans-Saharan traders gave the Senegal its famous nickname as the "River of Gold". The Trans-Saharan stories about

2940-650: The Catalan Atlas) and much further southeast, probably Kano . North of the Senegal-Niger are the various oases and stations of the trans-Saharan route (" Tutega " = Tijigja , " Anzica " = In-Zize, " Tegaza " = Taghaza , etc.) towards the Mediterranean coast. There is an unlabeled depiction of a black African man on a camel traveling from " Uuegar " (prob. Hoggar ) to the town of "Organa" (" ciutat organa ", variously identified as Kanem or Ouargla or possibly even

3024-471: The Jolof became permanently independent during a succession dispute in 1360 between two rival lineages within the Mali Empire . There is no consensus among scholars, however. The earliest centuries of Jolof's history are known only through oral histories, but few details have survived. During the relatively dry period (c. 1100–1500) the Jolof empire expanded soutwards and westwards, progressively 'Wolofizing'

3108-525: The Jolof confederacy: Cayor , Baol and Waalo , and the Serer states of Sine and Saloum . Beginning in the 1440s, Portuguese ships began to visit the coast, initially looking to capture slaves but soon shifting to trade. The Jolof expansion may have been assisted by the purchase of horses from these traders. At this time, Jolof was at the height of its power. Buurba Biram Njeme Eler , or possibly Cukli Njiklaan , conquered Namandirou in approximately

3192-538: The Mediterranean world with the establishment of the Trans-Saharan trade route between Morocco and the Ghana Empire . Arab geographers, like al-Masudi of Baghdad (957), al-Bakri of Spain (1068) and al-Idrisi of Sicily (1154), provided some of the earliest descriptions of the Senegal River. Early Arab geographers believed the upper Senegal River and the upper Niger River were connected to each other, and formed

3276-631: The Muslim "king of Nubia " (" Rex Onubia ", his range depicted by crescent-on-gold banners) and the Christian Prester John (" Preste Joha "), i.e. the emperor of Ethiopia in the garb of a Christian bishop (coincidentally, this is the first visual depiction of Prester John on a portolan chart). Uniquely, the Viladestes map shows another river, south of the Senegal, which it labels the " flumen gelica " (poss. angelica ), which some have taken to depict

3360-553: The Navigator's captains about the Daklha inlet, which Mauro carefully labels " Reodor " ("Rio do Ouro", Western Sahara), distinctly from the "Canal del Oro" (Senegal River). Christian Europeans soon began attempting to find the sea route to the mouth of the Senegal. The first known effort may have been by the Genoese brothers Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi , who set out down the coast in 1291 in

3444-401: The Portuguese slave -raiding fleet of Lançarote de Freitas arrived at the mouth of the Senegal. One of its captains, Estêvão Afonso , volunteered to take a launch to explore upriver for settlements, thus becoming the first European to actually enter the Senegal river. He didn't get very far. Venturing ashore at one point along the river bank, Afonso tried to kidnap two Wolof children from

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3528-405: The Portuguese interacted frequently with a certain Wolof chieftain south of the river, somewhere on the Grande Côte , which he refers to as Budomel . "Budomel" is almost certainly a reference to the ruler of Cayor , a combination of his formal title (" Damel "), prefixed by the generic Wolof term bor ("lord"). Curiously, Budomel is reminiscent of Vedamel already used by the Genoese back in

3612-410: The Portuguese renamed it "Senegal" because that was the personal name of a local Wolof chieftain who frequently conducted business with the Portuguese traders. But this etymology is doubtful (e.g. the ruler of Senegalese river state of Waalo bears the title ' Brak ', and Cadamosto gives the personal name of the Senegal river chieftain as "Zucholin"). The confusion may have arisen because Cadamosto says

3696-458: The River of Gold, for one can here obtain the gold of Palolus. And know that the greater part of those that live here occupy themselves collecting gold on the shores of the river which, at its mouth, is a league wide, and deep enough for the largest ship of the world." The galley of Jaume Ferrer is depicted off the coast on the left, with a quick note about his 1346 voyage. The golden round island at

3780-403: The Senegal River prior to the 1440s. Viladestes labels it "River of Gold" (" riu del or ") and locates it a considerable distance south of Cape Bojador ( buyeter ) - indeed, south of a mysterious " cap de abach " (possibly Cape Timris). There are extensive notes about the plentifulness of ivory and gold in the area, including a note that reads "This river is called Wad al-Nil and also is called

3864-482: The Senegal River) and Cayor (a little below that), drumming up a profitable business exchanging Mediterranean goods (notably, horses) for gold and slaves. Chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara , writing in 1453, still called it the "Nile River", but Alvise Cadamosto , writing in the 1460s, was already calling it the "Senega" [ sic ], and it is denoted as Rio do Çanagà on most subsequent Portuguese maps of

3948-613: The Senegal-Mali border up to Bakel. The Senegal further flows through semi-arid land in the north of Senegal, forming the border with Mauritania and into the Atlantic . In Kaedi it accepts the Gorgol from Mauritania. Flowing through Boghé it reaches Richard Toll where it is joined by the Ferlo coming from inland Senegal's Lac de Guiers . It passes through Rosso and, approaching its mouth, around

4032-563: The Senegalese island on which the city of Saint-Louis is located, to then turn south. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a thin strip of sand called the Langue de Barbarie before it pours into the ocean itself. The river has two large dams along its course, the multi-purpose Manantali Dam in Mali and the Maka-Diama Dam downstream on the Mauritania-Senegal border, near the outlet to

4116-664: The age. Cadamosto relates the legend that both the Senegal and the Egyptian Nile were branches of the Biblical Gihon River that stems from the Garden of Eden and flows through Ethiopia . He also notes that the Senegal was called "the Niger" by the ancients - probably a reference to Ptolemy 's legendary 'Nigir' (Νιγειρ) (below the Gir), which would be later identified by Leo Africanus with

4200-444: The black banners (an inscription notes "This lord of the blacks is called Musa Melli, Lord of Guinea, the greatest noble lord of these parts for the abundance of the gold which is collected in his lands". Curiously, there is a defiant gold-bannered town south of the river, labelled " tegezeut " (probably the Ta'adjast of al-Idrisi), and might be an ichoate reference to Djenné . East of Mali,

4284-481: The breakup of the Mali Empire . Mali's slipping grip on its far-flung empire had allowed Jolof to become an empire in the first place. But now conflict was spreading to Jolof's northern territories. In 1513, Koli Tenguella led a strong force of Fulani and Mandinka into Futa Toro , seizing it from the Jolof and setting up his dynasty , and also destroying Namandirou . In 1520 the Serer kingdoms of Sine and Saloum in

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4368-530: The capital of a local kingdom. The location Senegany is depicted in 1351 Genoese map known as the Medici Atlas (Laurentian Gaddiano portolan). This town ("Isingan") is fantastically depicted in the 1413 portolan map of Majorcan cartographer Mecia de Viladestes . The name itself might be of Berber Zenaga origin, speculatively related to 'Ismegh' ('black slave', analogous to the Arabic 'abd ) or 'sagui nughal' ('border'). Some sources claim 'Isinghan' remained

4452-512: The city of " tocoror " ( Takrur ). Above it is a depiction of the Almoravid general Abu Bakr ibn Umar (" Rex Bubecar ") on a camel. Further east, along the river, is the seated emperor ( mansa ) of Mali (" Rex Musa Meli ", prob. Mansa Musa ), holding a gold nugget. His capital, " civitat musa meli " is shown on the shores of the river, and the range of the Emperor of Mali's sway is suggested by all

4536-528: The empire had long been reduced to a rump state in the form of the Kingdom of Jolof . Throughout the different classes, intermarriage was rarely allowed. Women could not marry upwards, and their children did not inherit the father's superior status. However, women had some influence and role in government. The Lingeer was head of all women and very influential in state politics. She owned several villages that cultivated farms and paid tribute directly to her. There were also other female chiefs whose main task

4620-401: The feasibility of creating a navigable channel 55 m (180 ft) in width between the small town of Ambidédi in Mali and Saint-Louis , a distance of 905 km (562 mi). It would give landlocked Mali a direct route to the Atlantic Ocean. The aquatic fauna in the Senegal River basin is closely associated with that of the Gambia River basin, and the two are usually combined under

4704-739: The first European colony on the Canary Islands , the French Norman adventurers Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle set about immediately probing the African coast, looking for directions to the mouth of Senegal. The project of finding the Senegal was taken up in the 1420s by the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator , who invested heavily to reach it. In 1434, one of Henry's captains, Gil Eanes , finally surpassed Cape Bojador and returned to tell about it. Henry immediately dispatched

4788-408: The kingdoms of the Gambia also gave the Buurba some access to the growing commerce there. Upon Buurba Biram Njeme Eler 's death, the succession was disputed between his son, Bokar Bige, and his nephew Tase Daagulen . The latter was eventually victorious, with the help of Brak Cukuli Mbooj of Waalo . This conflict was, in a way, a contest between a patrilineal inheritance system (father-son) and

4872-431: The latter half of the 14th century. Traditional accounts among the Wolof agree that the founder of the state was the possibly mythical Ndiadiane Ndiaye (also spelled Njaajaan Njaay or Njai). Sallah writes: "Some say that Njajan was the son of Abu Darday, an Almoravid conqueror who came from Mecca to preach Islam in Senegal ... Some say that Ndiadiane Ndiaye was a mysterious person of Fulani origin. Others say he

4956-425: The mappa mundi made by Pietro Vesconte for the c. 1320 atlas of Marino Sanuto , there is an unnamed river stemming from the African interior and opening in the Atlantic ocean. The 1351 Medici-Laurentian Atlas shows both the Egyptian Nile and the western Nile stemming from the same internal mountain range, with the note that " Ilic coligitur aureaum ". The portolan chart of Giovanni da Carignano (1310s-20s) has

5040-471: The mistake, Henry kept pressing his captains further down the coast, and in 1445, the Portuguese captain Nuno Tristão finally reached the Langue de Barbarie , where he noticed the desert end and the treeline begin, and the population change from 'tawny' Sanhaja Berbers to 'black' Wolof people . Bad weather or lack of supplies prevented Tristão from actually reaching the mouth of the Senegal River, but he rushed back to Portugal to report he had finally found

5124-440: The modern Niger River . Much the same story is repeated by Marmol in 1573, with the additional note that both the Senegal River and Gambia River were tributaries of the Niger River . However, the contemporary African atlas of Venetian cartographer Livio Sanuto , published in 1588, sketches the Senegal, the Niger and the Gambia as three separate, parallel rivers. Portuguese chronicler João de Barros (writing in 1552) says

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5208-451: The mouth of the Senegal River is the indication (customary on portolan charts) of river mouth bars or islands - in this case, probably a reference to the Langue de Barbarie or the island of Saint-Louis ). The first town, by the mouth of the Senegal, is called " isingan " (arguably the etymological source of the term "Senegal"). East of that, the Senegal forms a riverine island called " insula de bronch " ( Île à Morfil ). By its shores lies

5292-528: The mysterious appearance of a stranger from the lake. The stranger divided the wood fairly and disappeared, leaving the people in awe. The people then feigned a second dispute and kidnapped the stranger when he returned. They offered him the kingship of their land. When these events were reported to the ruler of the Kingdom of Sine , Maad a Sinig Maysa Wali , also a great magician, he is reported to have exclaimed "Ndiadiane Ndiaye" in his native Serer language in amazement. He then suggested that all rulers between

5376-421: The name "Senegal" is probably a derivation of Azenegue , the Portuguese term for the Saharan Berber Zenaga people that lived north of it. A strong challenge to this theory is that "Senegal" is much older, and might derive from "Sanghana" (also given as Isenghan, Asengan, Singhanah), a city described by the Arab historian al-Bakri in 1068 as located by the mouth of the Senegal River (straddling both banks) and

5460-429: The only thing tearing it apart. The Atlantic Trade trade, for instance, had brought extra wealth to the empire, but with Jelen's failure the rulers of the vassal states on the coast got the lion's share of the benefits, which eventually allowed them to eclipse and undermine the emperor. Jolof was located far from the coast, and had no direct access to maritime trade. There was also the matter of external forces, such as

5544-400: The other the " canal dal oro " ("Channel of Gold"), and makes the note that " Inne larena de questi do fiume se trova oro de paiola " ("In the sands of both these rivers gold of 'palola' may be found"), and nearer to the sea, " Qui se racoce oro " ("Here gold is collected"), and finally, on the coast, " Terra de Palmear " ("Land of Palms"). It is notable that Fra Mauro knew of the error of Henry

5628-457: The region that became Jolof, which was named after a local chief Jolof Mbengue. The empire consisted mostly of Wolof, Serer and Fula from north of the Senegal River . The region was ruled by Lamanes of the Mbengue, Diaw and Ngom families. They were related to early rulers of neighboring kingdoms such as Baol . Jolof was a vassal of the Mali Empire for much of its early history. It remained within that empire's sphere of influence until

5712-415: The river forms a lake or "Island of Gold" shown here studded with river-washed gold nuggets (this is what the Pizzigani brothers called the island of " Palolus ", and most commentators take to indicate the Bambuk-Buré goldfields). It is connected by many streams to the southerly "mountains of gold" (labelled " montanies del lor ", the Futa Djallon / Bambouk Mountains and Loma Mountains of Sierra Leone). It

5796-476: The river with the label, iste fluuis exit de nilo ubi multum aurum repperitur . In the more accurately-drawn portolan charts , starting with the 1367 chart of Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano and carried on in the 1375 Catalan Atlas , the 1413 chart of the Catalan converso Mecia de Viladestes , etc. the "River of Gold" is depicted (if only speculatively), draining into the Atlantic Ocean somewhere just south of Cape Bojador . The legend of Cape Bojador as

5880-403: The river's original local Wolof name was Ovedech (which according to one source, comes from "vi-dekh", Wolof for "this river"). His contemporary, Damião de Góis (1567) records it as Sonedech (from "sunu dekh", Wolof for "our river"). Writing in 1573, the Spanish geographer Luis del Marmol Carvajal asserts that the Portuguese called it Zenega , the 'Zeneges' (Berber Zenaga ) called it

5964-399: The royal family became more consumed by succession disputes. Once appointed, officeholders went through elaborate rituals to both familiarize themselves with their new duties and elevate them to a divine status. From then on, they were expected to lead their states to greatness or risk being declared unfavored by the gods and being deposed. The stresses of this political structure resulted in

6048-428: The ruling classes. The smaller states thus incorporated into the empire. The states of Cayor and Baol , which were founded around the same time as Jolof, were absorbed early on. Many of the earliest buurbas came from maternal lineages native to Baol. The Kingdom of Sine and an early form of the Kingdom of Saloum were absorbed in the late 14th century at the earliest. This completed the core constituent states of

6132-420: The sea, preventing access of salt water upstream . In between Manantali and Maka-Diama is the Félou Hydroelectric Plant which was originally completed in 1927 and uses a weir . The power station was replaced in 2014. In 2013, construction of the Gouina Hydroelectric Plant upstream of Felou at Gouina Falls began. The Senegal River has a drainage basin of 270 000  km ( 100 000  sq mi),

6216-422: The seat of government to the coast to take advantage of the new economic opportunities. Other princes, opposed to this policy, deposed and murdered the buurba in 1489. Jelen escaped and sought refuge with the Portuguese, who took him to Lisbon . There he exchanged gifts with King John II and was baptized. Faced with the opportunity to put a Christian ally on the throne, John II sent an expeditionary force under

6300-420: The society for their ability to make weapons of war as well as their trusted status for mediating disputes fairly. Griots were employed by every important family as chroniclers and advisors, without whom much of early Jolof history would be unknown. Jolof's nobility were nominally animists , but some combined this with Islam . However, Islam had not dominated Wolof society until about the 19th century, when

6384-523: The south broke away. In 1549, Kayor successfully broke from the Jolof Empire under the leadership of the crown prince Amari Ngoone Sobel Fall by defeating Jolof at the Battle of Danki . The battle caused a ripple effect resulting in Waalo and Baol also leaving the empire. By 1600, the Jolof Empire was effectively over. Kayor invaded its southern neighbor, Bawol, and began forming a personal union of its own. Jolof

6468-434: The tracks are non-existent as they have been ripped up and used by locals as part of fences. The town has roughly 15,000 inhabitants, and is served by a weekly market that takes place on Fridays. There are usually one or two US Peace Corps volunteers stationed in the town, and surrounding villages. There is a post office, a bank, a small daily vegetable market, a bar, a sometimes running internet cafe, and several stores. There

6552-555: Was a Serer prince." In general, Ndiaye is given an Almoravid Islamic lineage and a link on his mother's side to the state of Takrur . James Searing adds that "In all versions of the myth, Njaajaan Njaay speaks his first words in Pulaar rather than Wolof , emphasizing once again his character as a stranger of noble origins." The legend of Ndiadiane Ndiaye has many variations in detail, but these share some important commonalities. It begins when his father dies and his mother remarries with

6636-441: Was judging cases involving women. In the empire's most northern state of Walo, women could aspire to the office of Bur and rule the state. Isolated from the main maritime and trans-Saharan trade routes, the economy of Jolof proper was relatively simple. Moor or Jula merchants were the main carriers of trade, which was organized around weekly markets and consisted mostly of millet, salt, beans, cattle and other essentials. Coinage

6720-455: Was made of the river for the transportation of goods and passengers. The OMVS have looked at the feasibility of creating a navigable channel 55 m (180 ft) in width between the small town of Ambidédi in Mali and Saint-Louis , a distance of 905 km (562 mi). It would give landlocked Mali a direct route to the Atlantic Ocean . The aquatic fauna in the Senegal River basin

6804-489: Was not used, but iron bars and cloth served as universal means of exchange. The ruler of Jolof was known as the Bour ba or Buurba , who was selected by a college of electors that included the rulers of the five main constituent kingdoms. Although nominally the head of the entire empire, the Buurba directly controlled a relatively small portion of Jolof; Lamanes held a lot of power, and became progressively more independent as

6888-438: Was reduced to a kingdom; nevertheless, the title of Burba remained associated with imperial prestige and commanded nominal respect from its ancient vassals. Jolof society harbored a developed hierarchical system involving different classes of royal and non-royal nobles, free men, occupational castes, and slaves. Occupational castes included blacksmiths, jewelers, tanners, tailors, musicians, and griots . Smiths were important to

6972-596: Was that "Senegal" comes from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal , meaning "our canoe" (more precisely, "our pirogue "). Bailot speculates the name probably arose as a misunderstanding, that when a Portuguese captain came across some Wolof fishermen and asked them what the name of the river was, they believed he was asking who their fishing boat belonged to, and replied simply "it is our canoe" ( sunu gaal ). The "our canoe" theory has been popularly embraced in modern Senegal for its charm and appeal to national solidarity ("we're all in one canoe", etc.). More recent historians suggest

7056-621: Was visited by Hanno the Carthaginian around 450 BCE at his navigation from Carthage through the pillars of Herakles to Theon Ochema ( Mount Cameroon ) in the Gulf of Guinea . There was trade from here to the Mediterranean World, until the destruction of Carthage and its west African trade net in 146 BCE. In the Early Middle Ages (c. 800 CE), the Senegal River restored contact with

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